Tourism earnings top $ 1.6-b mark by July

Earnings from tourism in the first seven months of this year have topped the $ 1.6-billion mark, reflecting a healthy 16.8% increase from the corresponding period last year.

The first seven months figure was boosted by $ 280 million earning in July, up by 31.2% over the corresponding month of last year.

The Central Bank said in July 2015 tourist arrivals recorded an impressive growth of 31.2%, year-on year, with 175,804 tourists arriving during the month.

 In the first seven months of the year, tourist arrivals surpassed the one-million benchmark, reaching a total of 1,005,855, translating into 16.8% growth over the corresponding period of 2014. 

The top five sources of tourist arrivals up to July 2015 were India, China, the UK, Germany and France. The number of Chinese and Indian tourist arrivals increased significantly during the first seven months of the year. However, a notable decline was observed in tourist arrivals from Russia during this period.